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Twist
Lost featured frequent twists - unexpected narrative shifts. Some added new information about known elements. Some wrapped up storylines in surprising ways. Others diverted the plot's long-term direction. Contextual twists Several scenes in Lost mislead viewers about where or when they're set until a later revelation. Episode cold openings frequently include this twist. * A close-up on Locke shows him receiving a phone call about some secret military plans. Then a wider shot reveals that he is just an office employee at a cubicle, and he was playing a game. * A close-up on Jack and Michael shows them tensely debating their next move, suggesting a matter of great significance. The next shot reveals that they are golfing and discussing which club to use. * A friend of Jack's is suited for a tuxedo, and their conversation suggests we're witnessing an incidental wedding Jack attended. The tailor then calls Jack the groom, revealing that we're about to witness Jack's own wedding. * A man goes about his morning routine, preparing breakfast, exercising and working on a computer. The fully equipped kitchen, laundry machines and gun vault suggest this takes place off-island, in civilization. Old-fashioned props, including the record player and old computer, suggest we're seeing a flashback. The sight of Jack and Locke places this in the Hatch, on the island and in the present day, following immediately from the previous season's cliffhanger. * Hurley begins a scene in the Swan pantry, a location he visited and to which he'd presumably return. He begins eating the food there, but the scene becomes increasingly bizarre, and it turns out to be a dream. * An episode begins with a young version of a character, suggesting a childhood flashback like in or . As with Hurley's dream, strange events unfold, and Charlie turns out to be dreaming. * Eko chops wood for his church. Ana, who died in the previous episode, appears, and reveals that for the third episode this season, the cold opening turned out to be a dream. Shortly after, Eko appears to dream again. This turns out, however, to be Locke's dream. * A woman goes about her morning routine, playing music, baking and entertaining guests. We see several houses populated with people, suggesting this scene takes place in the suburbs, off-island. The arrival of a plane, Ben Linus and a final pan out reveal the truth: this "town" exists on the island, and the scene occurs right before the crash. * Juliet sits on the beach, presumably on the island. She walks down a poorly-lit corridor, passing Ethan. She speaks with her pregnant sister, and injects her with a possible vaccine, much as Ethan did to Claire in the Staff station. But she then pulls back a curtain, revealing that they are not on the island -- the scene takes place in Miami. * Locke seeks "disability payments" from a case worker, suggesting the scene takes place after his accident. The case worker then calls the disability depression, and Locke stands up, showing that the scene takes place before the as-yet unseen accident. * Nikki's first flashback appears to depict her life as a stripper who is investigating a criminal plot. She even gets shot and apparently dies. A director then yells "cut!", revealing that this is a TV show. * Survivors trek through the jungle, a typical island scene, suggesting normal real-time action. Charlie dies. The footage then rewinds, revealing the scene as one of Desmond's flashes. * A woman in the jungle goes into labor. We've previously seen Claire give birth, and we know issues exist regarding pregnancy on the island. But she and her husband soon walk to a road, and a truck drives by. They're off the island. * Scenes showing Jack off-island suggest a flashback, like all previous off-island action. Kate's arrival, and their conversation, reveal this takes place after the current action, making this the series's first flash-forward. * A season begins on a pile of fruit against a possible island backdrop. All previous seasons have begun on the island. But then Hurley's Camaro crashes through the fruit, and the backdrop turns out to be just that -- a painted backdrop. The scene takes place in Los Angeles. * An episode begins with a shot of Locke's eye opening, and follows him as he prepares breakfast and speaks with Ben, suggesting that the episode will feature a flashback or flash-forward for him. However, the episode quickly shifts perspective to the true flash-forward character, Kate. * Juliet sees a therapist about her new-found celebrity. Previous episodes had revealed the Oceanic 6 as celebrities with issues, suggesting this another flash forward taking place off the island. Tom Friendly's appearance reveals that it's a flashback from on the island. * Off-island action alternates between scenes of Sun in giving birth in 2005 and Jin rushing to reach the hospital's maternity ward. The episode's conclusion reveals the scenes do not occur concurrently. Sun's are flash forwards, but Jin's are the traditional pre-crash flashbacks. * Locke, Hurley and Sawyer debate a course of action, with Hurley insisting that Locke seeks to divide the other two men. The next shot reveals that they are not discussing Locke's leadership, their rivalries or the fate of the island. They are playing a board game. * A season premiere again begins in an ambiguous time and place. We this time see not just a house but an entire family, including a baby, which we've never before seen on the island. The scene turns out to take place not just on the island but decades in the past, during the time of the DHARMA Initiative. It would later show that Daniel Faraday is also there, despite it being 1977. * Desmond tells his son about a "very special island" to which he is returning. He appears to be talking about the Island, but it turns out that he is referring to Great Britain. * In the show's largest setting twist, the flash sideways appear to portray an universe running parallel to the main timeline. The finale reveals that it contains a shared world the characters imagine after they die. Characterization twists New information sometimes reveals unexpected elements from a character's backstory. * Kate, who up to this point acted gentle-spoken and helpful, is shown handcuffed and revealed as a fugitive. * Locke, who has been walking, is revealed to have been in a wheelchair before he boarded Flight 815. * Sun, who has not been responding to English, reveals that she can speak it. * Sawyer, a con-man, is revealed to be a con-victim whose name isn't really Sawyer. * Ethan, who has acted like an Oceanic passenger, is revealed to be an Other. * Boone and Shannon, brother and sister, are revealed to have spent an incestuous night together. * Goodwin, whose death Eko seems to attribute to Others, is revealed to have been an Other himself. * Nathan, whose name, manner and claimed origin bring to mind Ethan, is revealed as a passenger, not an Other. * Eko, who appeared peaceful, is revealed to have been a warlord in Nigeria. The Beechcraft contained his associates and his brother. * Jin, though he apparently fathered Sun's child, is revealed to be infertile. * "Henry Gale", who has provided evidence that he landed on the island in a balloon, is revealed to be an Other. * Libby, who claimed to be a psychologist, is revealed to have spent time in a mental health institute. * Claire, though Australian, learns her father is Christian Shephard, which means that her brother is Jack. * Anthony Cooper, Locke's father, is revealed to also be the con man who ruined Sawyer's life. * Ben, who has earlier claimed to have been born on the Island, is shown being born off of the Island. * Sayid, who swears he'll never trust Ben, is revealed to become one of the Oceanic Six and in the employ of Ben, as a killer, killing people who work for Charles Widmore. * Kate, who appears at first to be pregnant, is revealed to in the future raise not her child, but Aaron. * "Locke", who has Locke's face, body, voice and memories, is revealed to be someone different altogether. * Jacob, whom Ben accused of indifference towards him and towards dying, is revealed to have held specific hope for Ben and to have hoped to remain alive. * The Man in Black, Jacob's nemesis, is revealed to also be his twin brother. Peripeteia Peripeteia is a sudden or unexpected reversal of the fate of a character. Many characters' roles reverse as the series progresses. Twist endings Some episodes end with a twist that wraps up their story without necessarily affecting the show's larger plot. The show used these twists most often early on in self-contained flashback narratives. * Locke spends an episode at work, on his lunch break, at home and in Australia. The episode's end reveals him as paralyzed from the waist down. All scenes showed him sitting or lying down. * Jack spends an episode following his fathers's figure on the Island while flashbacks show him failing to find the man in Australia. The episode's end reveals that his father died in Australia, revealing just why the sight of him on the Island terrified Jack so much. * Sawyer spends an episode conning a couple, and a letter from a victim's son suggests the con killed them. The episode's end reveals that Sawyer abandoned the con, and Sawyer wrote the letter himself years earlier to a different con artist. * Boone spends an episode failing to rescue Shannon from the Monster. The episode's end reveals these scenes as a vision brought on by the paste Locke spread on Boone's head. * Boone spends an episode trying to rescue Shannon from an abusive relationship. The episode's end reveals the relationship as Shannon's con. * Sawyer spends an episode hunting and killing a man he blamed for his parents' deaths. The episode's end reveals Duckett as innocent -- the execution was Hibbs's con. * Locke spends an episode meeting his father and voluntarily donating a kidney. The episode's end reveals their meeting and the surgery as Cooper's con. * Jack, Kate, Locke and Ana Lucia spend an episode investigating Sun's attack and mistrusting one another. The episode's end reveals the entire conflict as Sawyer's con to capture the guns. * Sawyer spends an episode collaborating with Cassidy. Midway through the episode, we learn he's conning her. He appears to honorably abandon the con for her sake, like in . The episode's end reveals he did not. * Sun spends an episode fretting about explaining a possible pregnancy to Jin, and flashbacks show her starting an extra-marital relationship. The episode's end reveals she feared telling him he was infertile pre-island, not that she carried another man's child. Later events, however, prove she feared carrying another man's child all along. * Hurley spends an episode listening to his friend Dave. The middle of the episode reveals him as figment of Hurley's imagination. He spends the remaining episode grappling with whether he's simply basing the island on elements from his asylum. The episode's end reveals Libby as an inmate, jokingly suggesting that Hurley's hallucinating the series's events after all. * Sawyer spends an episode working with an inmate, ostensibly to get revenge on a common enemy: the jail's warden. The episode's end reveals that not only was Sawyer conning the inmate, he and the warden were collaborating. * Hurley, Sawyer, Charlie and Sun spend an episode investigating Nikki and Paulos' deaths. The episode's end shows that they aren't dead but merely paralyzed, though they die moments later once they are buried alive. * Nikki was to spend her flashback episode investigating a crime. The episode's conclusion would have shown Nikki to be an actress, revealing that the episode's flashes were scenes from a TV show within Lost. The writers abandoned this idea and compressed this twist into the episode's opening scene. [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20034817,00.html Entertainment Weekly: 'Lost' in Transition] * Sayid spends an episode pursuing a romance with a woman while secretly using her to approach her boss, an assassination target. The episode's end shows that she knew about his motives and was playing him just as her played her. * Kate spends an episode raising a son and basing her legal strategy around him, and previous on-island action suggests she may be pregnant with Sawyer's child. The episode's end shows that the boy isn't hers at all - it's Aaron. * Sun and Jin spend an episode each journeying to a hospital's maternity ward. The episode's end reveals the two sequences as occurring years apart. Plot twists Plot twists divert the course of a plot in a new, unexpected direction. Season 1 * At first blush, a show about the gritty life of surviving a plane crash on a deserted island, Lost quickly shows that it will contain far stranger things: the island hosts a disembodied monster capable of pulling a grown man from an aircraft cockpit and of uprooting trees in rapid succession , as well as polar bears somehow living in a tropical climate. * Someone in the camp was on the island before the crash. * Locke, after blaming Sawyer for knocking Sayid out during Sayid's attempt to triangulate the distress signal , reveals he is actually the one to blame. * The raft occupants, encountering another boat containing four strangers, are elated, believing rescue is finally at hand. However, the strangers kidnap Walt, shoot Sawyer, and blow up the raft, actions which affect season 2, and Michael's character from that point onward. Season 2 * A man named Desmond is revealed to be living in the Hatch, surrounded by a fully-equipped kitchen, laundry machines, gun vault, and computer. * The people on the beach believe themselves the only survivors of Flight 815, until some of the tail-section members are confirmed alive. * Kate discovers the dirty and patchy clothes of the Others hanging neatly in a closet, along with a fake beard and some theatrical glue, implying that the Others are misleading the survivors with their appearance. * The man who claimed to be Henry Gale is actually an Other. * Michael turns out to be working for the Others. He shoots Ana Lucia and Libby before setting the fake Henry Gale free and shooting himself in the shoulder. * The Pearl Orientation video indicates the activities in the Swan are part of a psychological experiment, causing Locke to completely lose his faith in pushing the button, and Eko to find stronger faith and take over the task. ** Later, this twist is reversed. The capsule dump discovery and the discharge prove the Swan was not a psychological experiment after all. * A sailboat appears on the horizon leading the survivors to think rescue is imminent. Instead it contains Desmond, who finds himself back on the Island after "sailing for two and half weeks, bearing due West and making 9 knots". * Sayid opens The Door, but it is revealed to be a facade station, rather than the Other's station. * Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are captured by the Others at the capsule dump, rather than at the site of the decoy village. Season 3 * The Others live in ordinary houses with running water and electricity, and are not the savages they were previously portrayed as. * When Jack tries to escape through a hatch door, water pours into the room, revealing that they are underwater. Juliet reveals it as The Hydra, a DHARMA station for holding animals. * Although Jack presumed that The Others are isolated from the rest of the world, they do have some communication, as proven by Ben showing Jack a tape of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series. * Ben shows Sawyer that he, Jack, and Kate are prisoners on a second, smaller island which was previously unknown to the audience and the characters. * Naomi tells Desmond, Charlie, Hurley and Jin that Flight 815 was found four miles under water and that cameras had confirmed that all the passengers were dead. * Jacob is "revealed" by Ben to be insivible, only able to be seen by Ben himself. . * Although acknowledging Locke as a new Other and person of importance, Ben shoots Locke and leaves him for dead in the mass DHARMA grave. * Walt appears to Locke, telling Locke that he has unfinished business and cannot die. . * Jack and Kate are shown off the Island in the future. Season 4 * Hurley sees Jacob's cabin, and Christian Shephard sitting in a chair. * Although the audience knows that Oceanic 815 crashed on the Island, the plane wreckage is discovered just off the coast of Bali by a discovery team. * The people from the freighter have come to the Island to find Benjamin Linus, not to rescue the remaining survivors. * Benjamin Linus has a man on the freighter. * Locke and his group are heading for Jacob's cabin, but when they reach the circle of ash, his cabin isn't there. * The freighter belongs to Charles Widmore, revealed to be Penelope's father as well. **In addition, Widmore is shown to also be an enemy of Ben. * Although it is assumed Ben's man on the Kahana is an Other, Michael is revealed to be on the freighter. * The deceased Jeremy Bentham is revealed to be Locke. **Although he was not one of the Oceanic 6, Locke is revealed to have left the Island as well. Season 5 * Ben is working with Ms. Hawking, a former Other who is manning the DHARMA Initiative's Lamp Post Station. * Charles Widmore, previously only seen off the Island, is revealed to have been one of The Others in the 1950s. * Jin is revealed to be alive. He was last seen on the Kahana when is exploded. * When Jack, Kate and Hurley return to the Island, Jin pulls up in a DHARMA van wearing overalls and appears to be working for the DHARMA Initiative. * Locke is revealed to have been killed by Ben strangling him, rather than a suicide by hanging himself. * Locke is revealed to not be himself resurrected, but rather being impersonated by the Man in Black. Season 6 * After the detonation of Jughead, the Island is revealed to be underwater in a different reality. ** The detonation of Jughead appeared to have the expected effect of allowing Flight 815 to land at LAX in 2004, but the survivors also traveled forward to 2007 and remained on the Island. * The "package" brought on Widmore's submarine is revealed to be a person, Desmond. * Widmore breaks his deal with Sawyer. * The Man in Black has conned the Candidates into taking a bomb onto Widmore's submarine, showing that not only does he not have good motives, but that he is intent on murdering all of them. * Instead of destroying the Ajira plane as originally planned, Frank, Richard and Miles decide to fly it off the island. References Category:Analysis Category:Literary techniques